What's up brand builders Stephen Houraghan here at BrandMasterAcademy.com and in this
video you're going to learn what brand perception is and how to measure and grow it so you can shape
how your target market sees your brand and make strategic decisions to grow awareness now the term
brand perception is one of many fluffy branding terms it's fairly self-explanatory on the face
of it your brand perception is the perception of a brand in the market so it's pretty simple now it's
true that the term is self-explanatory and it is easy to understand though
few realize how the art of shaping that perception determines the success or failure of that brand
in this video we're breaking down what brand perception is the important role it plays and what
you can do to shape your brand's perception in the mind of your audience now as i've outlined in the
intro the brand perception is easily defined as a brand's perception in the market now you could be
forgiven for believing that the brand's perception is in fact owned by the brand even the structure
of the statement is possessive the reality is however the perception of a brand is owned not
by the brand itself but by the consumers and the wider audience because although we can physically
see collateral or digital platforms or even experience the brand physically through brand
activation none of these things are the brand itself they simply express the brand or they are
expressions of the brand which aim to influence the perception of that brand in the minds of the
individual consumers who experience it directly or indirectly so in other words the brand
manifests in the mind of the audience shaped by those experiences to distill that even further the
brand lives and dies in the mind of the audience through its perception so why is brand perception
so important well your customers are the reason your brand exists without them there is no brand
or business behind it it's fair to say then that your customers matter and so do their opinions
and perceptions of your brand now if a consumer or prospect has a positive experience with your brand
whether through consumption or experience your brand earns trust earn trust dramatically
increases the likelihood that they'll choose or come back to your brand or your competitors
they're also far more likely to talk positively about your brand or demonstrate loyalty and
advocacy in fact according to yappo 60 of customers will tell friends and family about
a brand they're loyal to and this kind of advocacy when your customers turn into marketeers is far
more influential than any other form of marketing and is widely considered to be the holy grail
of branding now if a consumer or prospect has a negative experience with your brand on the other
hand trust is lost though may take your brand multiple touch points and multiple positive
experiences to generate any kind of influential impact it may only take one negative experience
to completely destroy a consumer relationship the reality is we're far more likely to share
bad experiences with our friends and family than good experiences we're 50 percent more likely
according to marketingcharts.com so where exactly are brand perceptions shaped well considering that
the brand lives in the mind of the audience through perceptions shaped by experiences
the perception of a brand is everything the art of branding is not designing logos or even creating
messages or stories the art of branding is the art of shaping perceptions through the strategic
tools a brand has at its disposal so in reality a brand is shaped at every single touch point
when we experience a brand we're experiencing strategically developed touch points that are all
designed to shape how we feel about that brand which ultimately influences our overall brand
perception these tools of brand expression include positioning differentiation benefit and value
personality voice messaging stories emotion empathy logos typography color
imagery activation emails coupons advertisements articles videos and much much more essentially
every single touch point across every single channel or media whether digital or physical is
another opportunity for a brand to influence the perception that lives in the mind of the audience
so how exactly do we influence perceptions with strategy well each of the brand tools of influence
mentioned in the previous section isn't created through shotgun strategy each one is carefully
developed through the brand strategy process which in turn strategically shapes the individual touch
points of the brand and the experiences of the audience through those touch points here are some
of the most influential brand strategy elements that contribute to the overall brand experience
the positioning strategy now the position of the brand defines why the brand is different
to its competitors and it also defines the value of that difference to the consumer in essence
the positioning strategy establishes exactly what the audience should understand and remember about
the brand as a priority which influences the rest of the brand development and the overall
communication strategy as well brand personality now brand personality is becoming an increasingly
important tool that brands are leveraging to shape audiences perceptions neuroscience has
uncovered that as humans we make the majority of our decisions subconsciously through our emotional
limbic system as humans we connect with other humans based on characteristics and behavioral
traits which we're either attracted to or we're not attracted to brands making conscious effort
to understand their audience their desires and their personality are at a distinct advantage
when they use that understanding to shape brand communication through that personality the more
familiar brand feels and the more attracted the audience is to the characteristics being displayed
the more likely the brand is to resonate with that audience brand messaging now one of the most
influential tools at a brand's disposal is the brand messaging framework though many understand
the brand message to consist of a single core message the reality is with the indefinite touch
points of modern brands today a comprehensive brand messaging framework is required
now this framework should outline a collection of key messages which are developed to shape the
audience's understanding of what the brand is all about and these individual key messages are
then used to influence specific touch points and their messages across all the platforms that the
brand uses emotional storytelling now as humans we all have this innate attraction to stories
because they've been used to transfer information for one generation to the next over millions and
millions of years now we gravitate towards stories because our instinct tells us that
there is a reward of knowledge at the end of that story at the conclusion of that story
and this gravitational pull towards story coupled with our emotional decision-making bias makes
for a potent combination brands that can wrap their messages up within emotional storytelling
can leverage our human instincts to attract eyes and ears authenticity now authenticity
is the hallmark of modern brands which aims to connect with audiences through human emotions
now since the shift of consumer power from brands to consumers on the back of the digital revolution
brands have evolved into these human personas the days of one-way broadcast communication are gone
today brands have to be there communicating on the digital front lines and consumers are less
tolerant of brands talking bs honesty is a key ingredient of modern brand communication and is
measured by instinct and the visual identity now the development of the brand personality defines
the characteristics that the brand should use throughout its messaging now while the messaging
framework has an opportunity to deliver those characteristics through language and through tones
the visual identity can bring them to life visually as the old adage goes you never get
a second chance to make a first impression we all know that a brand is not a logo though the
visual identity as a whole still has an important role to play if the strategic characteristics are
displayed visually the brand strategy can begin shaping perceptions within milliseconds of the
very first contact and beyond so now you know what brand perception is and how to influence it
how do you measure brand perception well brand equity is the premium on the value a brand offers
as a business in other words it's the intangible value attributed to the brand in isolation from
that business growing brand equity is in essence growing the brand and in order to measure that
equity brand perception must be measured because your brand perception lives in the mind of your
audiences that's where you must go to measure it so how do you do that well you can start with
audience outreach most bands begin building an audience from day one across multiple platforms
a social media following across multiple platforms and an active email list provides the brand with
an outreach tool although social posts asking for positives and negatives might result in your brand
hanging out its dirty laundry in public private messages and email offer a great way to get the
low down from the horse's mouth reach out and ask the people that matter you can also use
social monitoring now social media has become the modern day piazza where people hang out and share
their opinions and experiences unlike the days of old where eavesdropping in on a conversation
might get you a bad rep or a bloody nose today brands can simply search discussions for mentions
of their brand to get a temperature gauge of the overall sentiment there are plenty of social media
monitoring tools today which all offer the ability to gain insight through social media conversations
and then you have review sites whether we have a good or a bad experience with a brand we have
plenty of digital platforms available to us to spread the good or the bad or the indifferent word
review sites are an excellent way to get an overall gauge of brand perception in
the market and it's a go-to for customers who are in the consideration phase to get their own
perceptions confirmed or readjusted now look the branding and marketing industry i'll be the first
to tell you has many different terms that are used interchangeably and they can dilute the importance
of others but brand perception is a key branding term that you need to take care of as a brand
builder because this is the very thing that the brand you're building aims to shape if the brand
is developed with a crystal clear understanding of who the audience is and a clearly defined position
it can develop a communication strategy with a definitive plan to shape those perceptions now if
you want to dive deeper into brand strategy then this video here will help you out but before you
click it if you want to become a master of brand make sure you hit the like and subscribe to get
more videos just like this until next time brand like a master and i'll see you in the next video